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He sighed and put her down. His hand rested on her shoulder, just heavy enough to let her know that he’d be able to stop her if she took off. Which she wasn’t thinking about.
Not really.
A light clicked on, and Kammie reeled back out of instinct, trying to move into the shadows and cover herself.
Row didn’t let her get far. He drew her back to him so she was under the harsh light of the fixture over the foyer. “Don’t hide yourself from me.”
Tears pricked her eyes. “Row, please.”
The light clicked off, and he exhaled sharply just a heartbeat before he drew her close and wrapped his arms around her. He buried his face in her neck with a soft growl. “We’ll deal with this later. For now, I’ll let it slide.”
This time her eyes stung for an entirely different reason. He was being sweet—in a completely bossy, asshole sort of way. She let herself relax into his warmth and shoved her worry about what might come later out of her mind. She could live in the moment and enjoy this for what it was. Afterward, she’d have this memory for the lonely nights to come.
Adam and Dani came back into the living room several minutes later, both more or less dressed. Adam was wearing jeans, and Dani had on one of his t-shirts, which was just long enough to cover her to mid-thigh. Her skin was flushed and they both looked happy, especially Adam. Kammie hadn’t seen him really smile in a long time.
Dani handed them a pair of sweats and a t-shirt. Row was taller than Adam, and more muscular, but the sweats were baggy enough to fit him. Row grimaced as Kammie tugged the long-sleeved shirt over her head.
“What?” she asked.
“You smell like another male in that shirt.”
Kammie rolled her eyes as Dani giggled.
Row snarled, and Adam tucked Dani behind him quickly. “Don’t snarl at my mate in my house. I don’t give a damn who you are to her.”
Kammie said, “You’re really mates, Adam?”
He nodded. “Yeah. What’s up with you and growling bear here? Do you need help?”
Row snarled so loudly that the pictures on the walls rattled. For a moment, just the briefest blip of time, Kammie considered telling Adam that yes, she did need help, but instead she shook her head. “It’s fine, Adam.”
It wasn’t remotelyfine, but she’d deal with it later.
“Dani said you were taking her to see her people, but that’s clearly not your concern any longer,” Adam said.
Row’s face tightened in anger. “She’s my sister.”
“I’m her mate.” Adam growled. “I’ll take her to her people.”
“Or we could skip it,” Dani said, sliding her hands around Adam’s chest and resting her cheek on his shoulder as she peered around at them. “I don’t need to find my people to have found my home.”
Kammie thought it was the sweetest thing she’d ever heard. Adam didn’t seem to mind that his mate was seeing the scars from the burns he’d suffered as a teenager. Half of his body had burn scars, and Kammie knew he’d been struggling with his future in the pack and his inability to find a mate.
A part of her wanted to give in to the optimism that was trying hard to bloom within her, but she squashed it. It was too tempting to hope that Row actually wouldn’t mind her scars. She’d spent the years since her uncle’s abuse being ridiculed and ostracized. She wasn’t ready to believe that Row didn’t care about her scars, although the tiniest part of her wanted to.
Adam looked at Dani for a long, quiet moment, and then said, “You can borrow my truck to drive to Kammie’s.”
“You don’t want to drive us?” Kammie asked.
Adam glanced at Kammie for only a second. “I don’t really want to leave the house. You can bring the truck back tomorrow.”
“Late tomorrow,” Dani said.
Row made a disgusted sound, and Kammie just shook her head with a smile. After they said goodnight to Adam and Dani, Row followed Kammie out of the house to where Adam’s truck was parked on the street. Before her bare feet could hit the snow-covered sidewalk, Row had picked her up again and carried her to the truck.
He was clearly agitated, which made Kammie nervous. Her past told her that people who were angry tended to strike out at others. Although she didn’t believe that Row would hurt her, she couldn’t stop the instinctive anxiety that spiked through her. Trying to force the feelings away, she unlocked the door with the remote and Row set her on the passenger seat. He climbed in behind the wheel and started the engine.
“My place isn’t too far,” she said, suddenly feeling awkward.
